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Excerpts from the DIARY of Saint Faustina
Kowalska
39 + One day Jesus told me that He would cause a
chastisement to fall upon the most beautiful city in our country [probably
Warsaw]. This chastisement would be that with which God had punished Sodom
and Gomorrah.[27] I saw the great
wrath of God and a shudder pierced my heart. I prayed in silence.After a
moment, Jesus said to me, My child, unite yourself closely to Me during
the Sacrifice and offer My Blood and My Wounds to My Father in expiation
for the sins of that city. Repeat this without interruption throughout the
entire Holy Mass. Do this for seven days. On the seventh day I saw
Jesus in a bright cloud and began to beg Him to look upon the city and upon
our whole country. Jesus looked [down] graciously. When I saw the kindness
of' Jesus, I began to beg His blessing. Immediately Jesus said, For your
sake I bless the entire country. And He made a big sign of the cross
over our country. Seeing the goodness of God, a great joy filled my soul.
+February 22, 1931
47 In the evening, when I was in my cell, I saw the Lord
Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand [was] raised in the gesture of
blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From beneath
the garment, slightly drawn aside at the breast, there were emanating two
large rays, one red, the other pale. In silence I kept my gaze fixed on the
Lord; my soul was struck with awe, but also with great joy. After a while,
Jesus said to me, Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with
the signature: Jesus, I trust in You. I desire that this image be
venerated, first in your chapel, and [then] throughout the world.
48 I promise that the soul that will venerate this
image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already
here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will defend it as
My own glory.
70 Only Jesus knows how burdensome and difficult it is
to accomplish one's duties when the soul is so interiorly tortured, the
physical powers so weakened and the mind darkened. In the silence of my
heart I kept saying to myself, "O Christ, may delights, honor and
glory be Yours, and suffering be mine. I will not lag one step behind as I
follow You, though thorns wound my feet."
71 I was sent for treatment to our house in Plock, and
there I had the privilege of decorating the chapel with flowers. That was
at Biala.[36] Sister Thecla did
not always have time for this, so I often decorated the chapel by myself.
One day, I had picked the prettiest roses to decorate the room of a certain
person. When I was approaching the porch, I saw Jesus standing there. In a
kindly way He asked me, My daughter, to whom are you taking these
flowers? My silence was my reply to the Lord, because I recognized
immediately that I had a very subtle attachment to this person,[37] which I had not noticed before. Suddenly
Jesus disappeared. At the same moment I threw the flowers on the ground and
went before the Blessed Sacrament, my heart filled with gratitude for the
grace of knowing myself.
O Divine Sun, in Your rays the soul sees the tiniest specks of dust which
displease You.
72 O Jesus, eternal Truth, our Life, I call upon You and
I beg Your mercy for poor sinners. O sweetest Heart of my Lord, full of
pity and unfathomable mercy, I plead with You for poor sinners. O Most
Sacred Heart, Fount of Mercy from which gush forth rays of inconceivable
graces upon the entire human race, I beg of You light for poor sinners. O
Jesus, be mindful of Your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of
souls redeemed at so dear a price of Your most precious Blood. O Jesus,
when I consider the great price of Your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity,
for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners.
Although sin is an abyss of wickedness and ingratitude, the price paid for
us can never be equalled. Therefore, let every soul trust in the Passion of
the Lord, and place its hope in His mercy. God will not deny His mercy to
anyone. Heaven and earth may change, but God's mercy will never be
exhausted. Oh, what immense joy burns in my heart when I contemplate Your
incomprehensible goodness, O Jesus! I desire to bring all sinners to Your
feet that they may glorify Your mercy throughout endless ages.
73 O my Jesus, despite the deep night that is all around
me and the dark clouds which hide the horizon, I know that the sun never
goes out. O Lord, though I cannot comprehend You and do not understand Your
ways, I nonetheless trust in Your mercy. If it is Your will, Lord, that I
live always in such darkness, may You be blessed. I ask You only one thing,
Jesus: do not allow me to offend You in any way. O my Jesus, You alone know
the longings and the sufferings of my heart. I am glad I can suffer for
You, however little. When I feel that the suffering is more than I can
bear, I take refuge in the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and I speak to
Him with profound silence.
117 I will mention here that those who live with such a
person should not add external sufferings; for indeed, when the soul's cup
is full, the little drop we may add to it may be the one drop too much, and
the cup of bitterness will overflow. And who will answer for such a soul?
Let us beware of adding to the suffering of others, because that is
displeasing to the Lord. If the sisters or the superiors knew or even
suspected that a soul was suffering such trials, and they nevertheless
added still other sufferings, they would be sinning gravely, and God himself
would demand an account of them on behalf of such a soul. I am not speaking
here of instances which of their very nature are sinful, but of things
which in other circumstances would not be sinful. Let us be on our guard
against having the weight of such a soul on our conscience. This is a grave
and common defect in religious life; namely, that when one sees a suffering
soul, one always wants to add even more suffering. I do not say that
everyone acts like this, but there are some. We take the liberty of passing
all sorts of judgments, and we repeat them when we would do better to
remain silent.
118 The tongue is a small member, but it does big
things. A religious who does not keep silence will never attain holiness;
that is, she will never become a saint. Let her not delude herself-unless
it is the Spirit of God who is speaking through her, for then she must not
keep silent. But, in order to hear the voice of God, one has to have
silence in one's soul and to keep silence; not a gloomy silence, but an
interior silence; that is to say, recollection in God. One can speak a
great deal without breaking silence and, on the contrary, one can speak
little and be constantly breaking silence. Oh, what irreparable damage is
done by the breach of silence! We cause a lot of harm to our neighbor, but
even more to our own selves.
In my opinion, and according to my experience, the rule concerning silence
should stand in the very first place. God does not give himself to a
chattering soul which, like a drone in a beehive, buzzes around but gathers
no honey. A talkative soul is empty inside. It lacks both the essential
virtues and intimacy with God. A deeper interior life, one of gentle peace
and of that silence where the Lord dwells, is quite out of the question. A
soul that has never tasted the sweetness of inner silence is a restless
spirit which disturbs the silence of others. I have seen many souls in the
depths of hell for not having kept their silence; they told me so
themselves when I asked them what was the cause of their undoing. These
were souls of religious. My God, what an agony it is to think that not only
might they have been in heaven, but they might even have become saints! O
Jesus, have mercy!
119 I tremble to think that I have to give an account of
my tongue. There is life, but there is also death in the tongue. Sometimes
we kill with the tongue: we commit real murders. And we are still to regard
that as a small thing? I truly do not understand such consciences. I have
known a person who, when she learned from someone that a certain thing was
being said about her, fell seriously ill. She lost a good deal of blood and
shed many tears, and the outcome was very sad. It was not the sword that
did all this, but the tongue. O my silent Jesus, have mercy on us!
120 I have wandered onto the subject of silence. But
this is not what I wanted to speak about, but rather about the soul's life
with God and about its response to grace. When a soul has been cleansed,
and the Lord is on intimate terms with it, it begins to apply all its inner
force in striving after God. Yet the soul cannot do anything of itself. God
alone arranges everything. The soul knows this and is mindful of it. It is
still in exile and understands well that there may yet come cloudy and
rainy days, but it must now look upon things differently from what it had
up to now. It does not seek reassurance in a false peace, but makes ready
for battle. It knows it comes from a warrior race. It is now much more
aware of everything. It knows that it is of royal stock. It is concerned
with all that is great and holy.
126 Yet, I resolved to bear everything in silence and to
give no explanations when I was questioned. Some were irritated by my
silence, especially those who were more curious. Others, who reflected more
deeply, said, "Sister Faustina must be very close to God if she has
the strength to bear so much suffering." It was as if I were facing
two groups of judges. I strove after interior and exterior silence. I said
nothing about myself, even though I was questioned directly by some
sisters. My lips were sealed. I suffered like a dove, without complaint.
But some sisters seemed to find pleasure in vexing me in whatever way they
could. My patience irritated them. But God gave me so much inner strength that
I endured it calmly.
163 JMJ The Year 1937
General Exercises
+O Most Holy Trinity! As many times as I breathe, as many times as my heart
beats, as many times as my blood pulsates through my body, so many thousand
times do I want to glorify Your mercy.
+I want to be completely transformed into Your mercy and to be Your living
reflection, 0 Lord. May the greatest of all divine attributes, that of Your
unfathomable mercy, pass through my heart and soul to my neighbor.
Help me, O Lord, that my eyes may be merciful, so that I may never suspect
or judge from appearances, but look for what is beautiful in my neighbors'
souls and come to their rescue.
Help me, that my ears may be merciful, so that I may give heed to my
neighbors' needs and not be indifferent to their pains and moanings. Help
me, O Lord, that my tongue may be merciful, so that I should never speak
negatively of my neighbor, but have a word of comfort and forgiveness for
all.
Help me, O Lord, that my hands may be merciful and filled with good deeds,
so that I may do only good to my neighbors and take upon myself the more
difficult and toilsome tasks.
Help me, that my feet may be merciful, so that I may hurry to assist my
neighbor, overcoming my own fatigue and weariness. My true rest is in the
service of my neighbor.
Help me, O Lord, that my heart may be merciful so that I myself may feel
all the sufferings of my neighbor. I will refuse my heart to no one. I will
be sincere even with those who, I know, will abuse my kindness. And I will
lock myself up in the most merciful Heart of Jesus. I will bear my own
suffering in silence. May Your mercy, O Lord, rest upon me.
+You yourself command me to exercise the three degrees of mercy. The first:
the act of mercy, of whatever kind. The second: the word of mercy-if I
cannot carry out a work of mercy, I will assist by my words. The third:
prayer-if I cannot show mercy by deeds or words, I can always do so by
prayer. My prayer reaches out even there where I cannot reach out
physically.
O my Jesus, transform me into Yourself, for you can do all things.
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169 My conversation with the Lord Jesus before the
retreat. Jesus told me that this retreat would be a little different from
others. You shall strive to maintain a profound peace in respect to your
communings with Me. I will remove all doubts in this regard. I know that
you are at peace now as I speak to you, but the moment I stop talking you
will start looking for doubts. But I want you to know that I will affirm
your soul to such a degree that even if you wanted to be troubled, it will
not be within your power. And as a proof that it is I who am speaking to
you, you will go to confession on the second day of the retreat to the
priest who is preaching the retreat; you will go to him as soon as he has
finished his conference and will present to him all your doubts concerning
Me. I will answer you through his lips, and then your fears will end.
During this retreat, observe such strict silence that it will be as though
nothing exists around you. You shall speak only to Me and to your
confessor; you will ask your superiors only for penances. I felt
immense joy that the Lord would show me such kindness and lower himself so
much for my sake.
171 Struggle to keep silence. As usual, sisters from
various houses came to the retreat. One of the sisters whom I had not seen
for a long time, came to my cell and said she had something to tell me. I
did not answer her, and she saw that I did not want to break silence. She
said to me, "I didn't know you were such an eccentric, sister,"
and she went away. I was well aware that she had no other business with me
than to satisfy her own curious self-love. O God, preserve me in
faithfulness.
226 The rules that I most often fail to obey: sometimes
I break silence; disobedience to the signal of the bell; sometimes I meddle
in other people's affairs. I will do my very best to improve.
I will avoid sisters who grumble, and if they cannot be avoided, I will at
least keep silent before them, thus letting them know how sorry I am to
hear such things. I must take no heed of the opinion of others, but obey
the evidence of my own conscience and take God to be the witness of all my
actions. I must do everything and act in all matters now as I would like to
do and act at the hour of my death. For this reason, in every action I must
be mindful of God.
Avoid presumed permissions.[67] I must report
[even] small things to my superiors, and do so in as much detail as is
possible. I must be faithful in my spiritual exercises; I must not easily
ask to be dispensed from them. I must keep silence outside the time of
recreation, and avoid jokes and witty words that make others laugh and
break silence. I must have great appreciation for even the most minute
rules. I must not let myself become absorbed in the whirl of work, [but]
take a break to look up to heaven. Speak little with people, but a good
deal with God. Avoid familiarity. I must pay little attention as to who is
for me and who is against me. I must not tell others about those things I
have had to put up with. I must avoid speaking out loud to others during
work. I must maintain peace and equanimity during times of suffering. In
difficult moments I must take refuge in the wounds of Jesus; I must seek
consolation, comfort, light and affirmation in the wounds of Jesus.
236 Oh, how misleading are appearances, and how unjust
the judgments. Oh, how often virtue suffers only because it remains silent.
To be sincere with those who are incessantly stinging us demands much
self-denial. One bleeds, but there are no visible wounds. O Jesus, it is
only on the last day that many of these things will be made known. What
joy-none of our efforts will be lost!
252 +It was four days after my perpetual vows. I was
trying to make a Holy Hour. It was the first Thursday of the month. As soon
as I entered the chapel, God's presence enveloped me. I was distinctly
aware that the Lord was near me. After a moment, I saw the Lord, all
covered with wounds; and He said to me, Look at whom you have espoused.
I understood the meaning of these words and answered the Lord, "Jesus,
I love You more when I see You wounded and crushed with suffering like this
than if I saw You in majesty." Jesus asked, Why? I replied,
"Great majesty terrifies me, little nothing that I am, and Your wounds
draw me to Your Heart and tell me of Your great love for me." After
this conversation there was silence. I fixed my gaze upon His sacred wounds
and felt happy to suffer with Him. I suffered, and yet I did not suffer,
because I felt happy to know the depth of His love, and the hour passed
like a minute.
253 +I must never judge anyone, but look at others with
leniency and at myself with severity. I must refer everything to God and,
in my own eyes, recognize myself for what I am: utter misery and
nothingness. In suffering, I must be patient and quiet, knowing that
everything passes in time.
254 +The moments I lived through when I was taking my
perpetual vows are better left unsaid.
I am in Him, and He in me. As the Bishop [Rospond] was putting the ring on
my finger, God pervaded my whole being, and since I cannot express that
moment, I will be silent about it. My relationship with God, since
perpetual vows, has been more intimate than it had ever been before. I
sense that I love God and that He loves me. Having once tasted God, my soul
could not live without Him. One hour spent at the foot of the altar in the
greatest dryness of spirit is dearer to me than a hundred years of worldly
pleasures. I prefer to be a lowly drudge in the convent than a queen in the
world.
274 Jesus gave me the grace of knowing myself. In this
divine light I see my principal fault; it is pride which takes the form of
my closing up within myself and of a lack of simplicity in my relations
with Mother Superior [Irene].
The second light concerns speaking. I sometimes talk too much. A thing
could be settled in one or two words, and as for me, I take too much time
about it. But Jesus wants me to use that time to say some short indulgenced
prayers for the souls in purgatory. And the Lord says that every word will
be weighed on the day of judgment.
The third light concerns our rules. I have not sufficiently avoided the
occasions that lead to breaking the rules, especially that of silence. I
will act as if the rule were written just for me; it should not affect me
at all how anyone else might act, as long as I myself act as God wishes.
Resolution. Whatever Jesus demands of me regarding external things, I will
immediately go and tell my superiors. I shall strive for childlike openness
and frankness in my relations with the superior.
275 Jesus loves hidden souls. A hidden flower is the
most fragrant. I must strive to make the interior of my soul a resting
place for the Heart of Jesus. In difficult and painful moments, O my
Creator, I sing You a hymn of trust, for bottomless is the abyss of my
trust in You and in Your mercy!
359 January 10, 1935. +Thursday. In the evening during
benediction,[85] such thoughts as these
began to distress me: Is not perhaps all this that I am saying about God's
great mercy just a lie or an illusion...? And I wanted to think about this
for a while, when I heard a strong and clear inner voice saying,
Everything that you say about My goodness is true; language has no adequate
expression to extol My goodness. These words were so filled with power
and so clear that I would give my life in declaring they came from God. I
can tell this by the profound peace that accompanied them at that time and
that still remains with me. This peace gives me such great strength and
power that all difficulties, adversities, sufferings, and death itself are
as nothing. This light gave me a glimpse of the truth that all my efforts
to bring souls to know the mercy of the Lord are very pleasing to God. And
from this springs such great joy in my soul that I do not know whether it
could be any greater in heaven. Oh, if souls would only be willing to
listen, at least a little, to the voice of conscience and the voicethat is,
the inspirations-of the Holy Spirit! I say "at least a little,"
because once we open ourselves to the influence of the Holy Spirit, He
himself will fulfill what is lacking in us.
375 Particular interior practice; that is, the
examination of conscience. Self-denial, denial of my own will.
I. The denial of my reason. Subjecting it to the reason of those who
represent God to me here on earth.
II. The denial of my will. Doing the will of God, which is revealed in the
will of those who represent God to me and which is contained in the rule of
our order.
III. The denial of my judgment. Accepting immediately and without
reflection, analysis or reasoning all orders given by those who represent
God to me.
IV. The denial of my tongue. I will not give it the least bit of freedom;
but in one case only I will give it complete freedom; that is, in
proclaiming the glory of God. Whenever I receive Holy Communion, I will ask
Jesus to fortify and cleanse my tongue that I may not injure my neighbor
with it. That is why I have the greatest respect for the rule which speaks
about silence.
396 My traveling companions were very kind; several
women of the Sodality of Mary were in the same compartment with me. I
sensed that one of them was suffering greatly and fighting a difficult
battle in her soul. l began to pray in spirit for this soul. At eleven
o'clock these women went to another compartment for a chat, leaving only
the two of us behind in the carriage. I could feel that my prayer was
causing this soul's struggle to become even fiercer. I did not console her,
but prayed all the more fervently. Finally, the lady turned to me and asked
if she was obliged to fulfill a certain promise which she had made to God.
At that moment, I received inner knowledge of the promise and replied,
"You are absolutely obliged to keep it, or else you will be miserable
for the rest of your life. This thought will pursue you everywhere and give
you no peace." Surprised at my answer, she opened her soul to me.
She was a schoolteacher. When she was about to take her examinations, she
had promised God that if she did well in her examinations she would devote
herself to His service; that is, enter a religious congregation. She passed
the examinations very well. "But," she said, "when I entered
into the hustle and bustle of the world, I no longer wanted to enter a
convent. However, my conscience has given me no peace, and despite
amusements I am always unhappy."
After a lengthy conversation, she was completely changed and told me that
she would immediately take steps to enter a convent. She asked me to pray
for her, and I felt that God would be generous with His grace.
400 On the last day, when everyone had left the church,
I went before the Blessed Sacrament with him, and together we recited the
Te Deum. After a moment of silence, I offered his soul to the Sweetest
Heart of Jesus. How easy it was to pray in that little church! I remembered
all the graces that I had received there, and which I had not understood at
the time and had so often abused. I wondered how I could have been so
blind. And as I was thus regretting my blindness, I suddenly saw the Lord
Jesus, radiant with unspeakable beauty, .. and He said to me with kindness,
My chosen one, I will give you even greater graces that you may be the
witness of My infinite mercy throughout all eternity.
401 The days at home passed in much company, as
everybody wanted to see me and talk with me. Often I could count as many as
twenty-five people there. They listened with great interest to my accounts
of the lives of the saints. It seemed to me that our house was truly the
house of God, as each evening we talked about nothing but God. When, tired
from these talks and yearning for solitude and silence, I quietly slipped
out into the garden in the evening so I could converse with God alone, even
in this I was unsuccessful; immediately my brothers and sisters came and
took me into the house and, once again, I had to talk, with all those eyes
fixed on me. But I struck on one way of getting some respite; I asked my
brothers to sing for me, inasmuch as they had lovely voices; and besides,
one played the violin and another, the mandolin. And during this time I was
able to devote myself to interior prayer without shunning their company.
What also cost me a lot was that I had to kiss the children. The women I
knew came with their children and asked me to take them in my arms, at
least for a moment, and kiss them. They regarded this as a great favor, and
for me it was a chance to practice virtue, since many of the children were
quite dirty. But in order to overcome my feelings and show no repugnance, I
would kiss such a dirty child twice. One of these friends came with a child
whose eyes were diseased and filled with pus, and she said to me,
"Sister, take it in your arms for a moment, please." My nature
recoiled, but not paying attention to anything, I took the child and kissed
it twice, right on the infection, asking God to heal it.
I had many opportunities to practice virtue. I listened to people pour out
their grievances, and I saw that no heart was joyful, because no heart
truly loved God; and this did not surprise me at all. I was very sorry not
to have seen two of my sisters. I felt interiorly that their souls were in
great danger. Pain gripped my heart at the thought of them. Once, when I
felt very close to God, I fervently asked the Lord to grant them grace, and
the Lord answered me, I am granting them not only necessary graces, but
special graces as well. I understood that the Lord would call them to a
greater union with Him. I rejoice immensely that such great love reigns in
our family.
407 Oh, how happy I felt to be back in our convent! I
felt as though I was entering the convent for the second time. I took
unending delight in the silence and peace in which the soul can so easily
immerse itself in God, helped by everyone and disturbed by no one.
April 29, 1935.
421 On the eve of the exposition of the image, I went with our Mother
Superior to visit our confessor [Father Sopocko]. When the conversation
touched upon the image, the confessor asked for one of the sisters to help
make some wreaths. Mother Superior replied, "Sister Faustina will
help." I was delighted at this, and when we returned home, I
immediately set about preparing some greens, and with the help of one of
our wards brought them over. Another person, who works at the church, also
helped. Everything was ready by seven o'clock that evening, and the image
was already hanging in its place. However, some ladies saw me standing
around there, for I was more a bother than a help, and on the next day they
asked the sisters what this beautiful image was and what was its
significance. Surely these sisters would know, [they thought] as one of
them had helped adorn it the day before. The sisters were very surprised as
they knew nothing about it; they all wanted to see it and immediately they
began to suspect me. They said, "Sister Faustina must certainly know
all about it."
When they began asking me, I was silent, since I could not tell the truth.
My silence increased their curiosity, and I was even more on my guard not
to tell a lie and not to tell the truth, since I had no permission [to do
so]. Then they started to show their displeasure and reproached me openly
saying, "How is it that outsiders know about this and we,
nothing?" Various judgments were being made about me. I suffered much
for three days, but a special power took over in my soul. I was happy to
suffer for God and for the souls that have been granted His mercy during
these days. Seeing that so many souls have been granted divine mercy these
days, I regard as nothing even the greatest suffering and toil, even if
they were to continue till the end of the world; for they will come to an
end, while these souls have been saved from torments that are without end.
It was a great joy for me to see others returning to the source of
happiness, the bosom of The Divine Mercy.
432 At that very moment, I felt some kind of fire in my heart.
I feel my senses deadening and have no idea of what is going on around me.
I feel the Lord's gaze piercing me through and through. I am very much
aware of His greatness and my misery. An extraordinary suffering pervades
my soul, together with a joy I cannot compare to anything. I feel powerless
in the embrace of God. I feel that I am in Him and that I am dissolved in
Him like a drop of water in the ocean. I cannot express what takes place
within me; after such interior prayer, I feel strength and power to
practice the most difficult virtues. I feel dislike for all things that the
world holds in esteem. With all my soul I desire silence and solitude.
Thursday, Nocturnal Adoration.
445 When I came for adoration, an inner recollection took hold of me
immediately, and I saw the Lord Jesus tied to a pillar, stripped of His
clothes, and the scourging began immediately. I saw four men who took turns
at striking the Lord with scourges. My heart almost stopped at the sight of
these tortures. The Lord said to me, I suffer even greater pain than
that which you see. And Jesus gave me to know for what sins He
subjected himself to the scourging: these are sins of impurity. Oh, how
dreadful was Jesus' moral suffering during the scourging! Then Jesus said
to me, Look and see the human race in its present condition. In an
instant, I saw horrible things: the executioners left Jesus, and other
people started scourging Him; they seized the scourges and struck the Lord
mercilessly. These were priests, religious men and women; and high
dignitaries of the Church, which surprised me greatly. There were lay
people of all ages and walks of life. All vented their malice on the
innocent Jesus. Seeing this, my heart fell as if into a mortal agony. And
while the executioners had been scourging Him, Jesus had been silent and
looking into the distance; but when those other souls I mentioned scourged
Him, Jesus closed His eyes, and a soft, but most painful moan escaped from
His Heart. And Jesus gave me to know in detail the gravity of the malice of
these ungrateful souls: You see, this is a torture greater than My death.
Then my lips too fell silent, and I began to experience the agony of death,
and I felt that no one would comfort me or snatch me from that state but
the One who had put me into it. Then the Lord said to me, I see the
sincere pain of your heart which brought great solace to My Heart. See and
take comfort.
449 I prepared for this feast with greater zeal than in
previous years. On the morning of the feast itself, I experienced an inner
struggle at the thought that I must leave this Congregation which enjoys
such special protection from Mary. This struggle lasted through the
meditation and through the first Mass as well. During the second Mass, I
turned to our Holy Mother, telling Her that it was difficult for me to
separate myself from this Congregation... "which is under Your special
protection, O Mary." Then I saw the Blessed Virgin, unspeakably
beautiful. She came down from the altar to my kneeler, held me close to
herself and said to me, I am Mother to you all, thanks to the
unfathomable mercy of God. Most pleasing to Me is that soul which
faithfully carries out the will of God. She gave me to understand that
I had faithfully fulfilled the will of God and had thus found favor in His
eyes. Be courageous. Do not fear apparent obstacles, but fix your gaze
upon the Passion of My Son, and in this way you will be victorious.
1728 Write: I am Thrice Holy,
and I detest the smallest sin. I cannot love a soul which is stained with
sin; but when it repents, there is no limit to My generosity toward it. My
mercy embraces and justifies it. With My mercy, I pursue sinners along all
their paths, and My Heart rejoices when they return to Me. I forget the
bitterness with which they fed My Heart and rejoice at their return.
Tell sinners that no one shall escape My Hand; if they run away from My
Merciful Heart, they will fall into My Just Hands. Tell sinners that I am
always waiting for them, that I listen intently to the beating of their
heart... when will it beat for Me? Write, that I am speaking to them
through their remorse of conscience, through their failures and sufferings,
through thunderstorms, through the voice of the Church. And if they bring
all My graces to naught, I begin to be angry with them, leaving them alone
and giving them what they want.
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-39, 47-48, 70-73, 117, 130, 126,
163)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-169, 171, 226, 236, 252, 254,
274-275)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-359, 375, 396, 400-401, 407, 421,
432)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-I-445, 449)
(Diary
of Sister Faustina Kowalska Notebook-VI-1728)
http://www.saint-faustina.com/Diary/DMIMS10.shtml
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